For a long time, Thijs Bosker was an average student, until he discovered how exciting learning becomes when there are no ready-made answers. To his students, he passes on one key message: hope is the driving force that keeps us moving forward. They nominated him as Lecturer of the Year.

The World Food Programme, Philips, the European Space Agency. An overwhelming list of organisations that Sarita Koendjbiharie, as founder of the PRINS consultancy programme of International Studies, has managed to recruit. ‘We keep reaching new highs and insights together with our students and organ…

Hester Bijl, the Rector Magnificus of Leiden University, was handed a ‘shockingly long list’ of names of missing Iranians in her office at the Administration and Central Services department on 13 December 2022.

In collaboration with Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, Legal Action Worldwide, UN Women, the Australian Embassy in The Hague and the International Gender Champions Network, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies is pleased to announce the Gender…

A month’s break from your studies, ten days of intensive rehearsals and then a concert tour: the Netherlands Student Orchestra is based on a simple formula. Leiden student Daphne Biron tells us about the orchestra and the concert in Leiden on 20 February.

Master

Although fighting the culture of top-down education and stimulating lecturers’ confidence to adapt courses to local context priorities is no easy job to complete in three years, the “SLEEI inheritance” already has three main components.

Lecture

It was not until 1878 that the first female students enrolled at Leiden University, but the discussion on whether women were suited to study was by no means over. 8 March is International Women's Day. BBC correspondente Kim Ghattas will deliver a lecture on 6 March on the struggle by Arabic women for…

Lecture, Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series

In the existing literature on Islamic legal history and South or Southeast Asian Islamic traditions, fatwa collections from the “peripheries” of the Muslim world have been largely ignored, despite a considerable presence of such texts in both regions. This paper focuses on two fatwa compilations from…

Lecture, Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series

This talk will discuss the various ways Zaydis, Salafis and Houthis have engaged with the Islamic scholarly tradition in Yemen. It will argue that in each case there have been attempts--since at least the 17th century and until recent times--by Zaydi and Salafi scholars on the one hand and more recently…

Lecture, Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series

Changes to halt further biodiversity loss are more urgent than ever and feasible, says IPBES, the United Nations biodiversity panel. In two reports released this week, the panel calls on governments worldwide to develop coherent policies that address biodiversity, climate change, water, food and health.…

Deze week sluiten we het academisch jaar af met verschillende FGGA-studenten, waarin zij hun zomer- en toekomstplannen vertellen, maar ook terugblikken op het afgelopen jaar: ‘Ik vond het ontzettend prettig om weer terug te komen naar de fijne sfeer op Wijnhaven.’

The future does not yet exist, but many people think about it daily. The course Designing Your Future, part of the Honours Programme at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and taught by Bram Hoonhout‘Being a mentor during HOP week is something I can recommend to everyone’

In anticipation of future legal reforms on gender-based violence in the Republic of Moldova, Dr Carlotta Rigotti was invited by the United Nations Population Fund to participate in a roundtable discussion on legislative and policy approaches to online and technology-facilitated violence.

Dr. Josien de Klerk, Associate professor in Global Public Health at Leiden University College The Hague recently published some of her work on HIV/AIDS. In collaboration with a team of interdisciplinary researchers from the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development she came to the conclusion…

De crèche en het klaslokaal zijn misschien wel de meest gunstige plekken voor ziekteverwekkers. Toch is er relatief weinig bekend over hoe kinderen reageren op virussen en bacteriën en hoe het komt dat sommige kinderen veel beter beschermd zijn dan anderen. Simon Jochems, onderzoeker aan het Leids Universitair…

In Chile, citizens are Chileans, at least this is how it is described in the country’s Constitution. The “fact” that Chile is a mono-national state is an example of how realities are created by words. Since 1993, the country has legally recognised nine indigenous groups inhabiting its territory. Yet,…

With funding from the Work Experience Fund, the Work Balance in Action core group aims to ease teachers' workload.

In brain diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, proteins clump together to form fibres. ‘Chaperone proteins’ unravel those fibres, but in the test tube biochemist Anne Wentink saw that this can also cause new problems. She is going to find out what happens inside cells to determine what a drug…

How did early humans use their hands, and what can that tell us about our shared past? Cora Leder, newly awarded recipient of the NWO PhD in the Humanities grant, is set to find out.

On 18 January 2025, the Annual Reconnect & Gala of the Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) celebrated over 20 years of bringing together current MIRD students, alumni, and faculty members. This year’s discussions focused on the theme: 'The Future of IR: Digital Innovation, Climate…

‘Walking around in a new environment activates our brain’s learning centre. This allows us to learn better, even once we’ve returned to a familiar environment.’ This is the conclusion drawn by neuroscientist Judith Schomaker in her recent publication in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

Global science research serves the needs of the Global North, and is driven by the values and interests of a small number of companies, governments and funding bodies, finds a major new international study published today. As such, the authors find, science, technology and innovation research is not…

Alumni event, Lustrum

How can you do your bit for sustainability? Students from Leiden University have launched an interactive website with 150 sustainable initiatives in and around The Hague. The website Sustainable The Hague makes it easy to find a sustainable shop, restaurant or community initiative in your local area…

Een kort filmpje over inclusie van migranten vermindert vooroordelen minstens drie maanden. Maar mensen ervaren fysieke stress als zij conservatiever tegenover migranten staan dan de groepsopinie dicteert. ‘We moeten mensen aanmoedigen, niet confronteren.’ Sociaal psycholoog Feiteng Long promoveert…

After two years of corona restrictions, it was ‘back to normal’ in 2022. Migration, elections, the history of slavery, Russia, and Ukraine were much-discussed topics. We compiled an overview of the most-read news items and other events of the past year.

In September 2023 the new minor Sustainability, Climate Change and Food starts. This minor critically examines the complexities of food sustainability through ecological, socio-economic, political, and cultural systems.

Why do people commit violence? A question that may not occupy many minds, but one that Don Weenink has been researching for many years. Since 1 March, the sociologist has held the title of professor of Violence and Policing.

Although Vedic ritual poetry might not be an ideal source for the socioeconomic history of ancient South Asia, the hymns of the Ṛgveda and the Atharvaveda do give meaningful information about agriculture and woodworking, two types of work still important in India today. If the information gleaned…

Cultural memory is constantly mediated by the fields of political power in which it circulates and through which it eventually obtains its shape. This holds particularly true for heritage politics, as the curation of heritage is controlled and financed by elites, making it highly dependent on power…

In Yemen, the multiplication of pious visitations to tombs (ziyārāt) between the end of the 6th/12th century and the 9th/15th century, as elsewhere in the Muslim worlds, went along with the emergence of many blessed characters and lineages associated with sainthood (walāya). The contemporary Yemeni…

For centuries, enslaved individuals were trafficked to Yemen – mostly from the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea – and forced to support local societies through their labor. As Ḥusayn al-ʿAmrī's pioneering scholarship and my recent studies have highlighted, their contributions in medieval…

This presentation sheds light on the dynamics between gender, war-induced diaspora, transnationalism, and peace-building in Yemen. Since the outbreak of the war in 2014/2015, around 4.5 million people have been internally displaced and over 190,000 Yemenis sought refuge abroad. While the out-migration…

As an introduction to the conferences which will be devoted to ancient southern Arabia, an examination of the state of this field of research seems desirable. I am encouraged to do so because the progress in knowledge since the start of my career more than 50 years ago has been dizzying.…

Graduation Ceremony of the LL.M. Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights 2024–2025

Discover insights and advice from Leiden scientists on bullying, how to stop and prevent it. Learn why people bully, how bullied children can get help and what it takes to create a safe environment. Find out how anti-bullying programmes work in schools and why bullying is a serious problem that needs…

Roel Wouters (24), a biology student at Leiden University, is a finalist in the election for UN youth delegate for Biodiversity and Food. The digital polls open for a week on Friday 22 October. Under-30s can vote for Roel at www.stemroel.nl.

A variety of Diversity & Inclusion training courses are offered at faculty level on topics such as prejudice, diversity in the workplace and inclusive education. During these courses, participants have the opportunity to talk about their experiences.

The world is in turmoil. International wars and conflicts have been raging for some time. And political and social developments are causing insecurity, uncertainty and unrest. This has not gone unnoticed within our university community. We have seen protests, demonstrations and other incidents. This…

Lecture, Research Seminar

Hybrid Workshop: In person and online on 26 – 27 January 2023.

Sandra Palmen studied tax law at Leiden University and built a career within central government, currently as State Secretary. She was one of the first to raise the alarm about the child benefits affair and is now righting the wrongs.

Space telescope Euclid is capable of unravelling the secrets of the universe. That is what the images published by ESA today show, according to astronomers working with the telescope's data. The images exceed all expectations. Scientists within the Euclid consortium, including astronomers Henk Hoekstra…

A Diversity & Inclusion symposium for academic staff was held at the end of last month. The focus of the internal debate was 'Let's speak about Inclusive Curriculum and Teaching'. All aspects of these topics were emphasized, ideas were developed, and tips & tricks, sensitivities, and best practices…

Sharing knowledge based on research within organisations presents a challenging task. How can this be done effectively? What steps should be taken to ensure that knowledge obtained from research is shared and applied in the organisation's daily practice? On 8 May, the Leiden Leadership Centre (LLC)…